Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM MAY 2024 30 W ow, what an event! The United Appliance Servicers Association (UASA) hosted the 2024 Annual Service Training Institute (ASTI) in Las Vegas. The theme of this year's event was "Stack The Odds In Your Favor" – something the Board of Directors worked hard to help make attendees' businesses better. When utilizing all of the opportunities ASTI provided for networking, learning and growing, attendees are definitely stacking the odds in their favor to help them grow a more efficient and profitable business. This year we surpassed all our previous conventions with 880 attendees, 80 vendor booths, and over 200 classes, both technical and business, making this our BIGGEST ever. Each year we've seen attendance grow in both attendees and vendors, and this year was no exception. Some of the greatest minds in business, service, marketing, and sales gathered to share insights and ideas on how to grow professionally and personally. Among the many highlights of this year's event, here are some worth a special mention, beginning with Keynote Speaker Shawn Moon, executive vice president of FranklinCovey, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and CEO of Zerorez, whose books include Talent Unleashed and Leading Loyalty: Cracking the Code to Customer Devotion. Classes throughout the week offered innovative business and technical sessions. The industry tradeshow opened with a cocktail reception on Tuesday evening and continued Wednesday morning, as the attendees visited 80 unique booths while networking with vendors from many sectors, opening new accounts, exploring new vendors, and getting reacquainted with those they'd done business with for years. Wednesday evening the awards banquet featured lots of giveaways, the Most Professional Servicer Contest winners, and the 2024 Lifetime Achievement recipient, Glade Ross. Also highlighted were the scholarship winners, board members, sponsors, and partners that have helped UASA grow into what it is today. Over the five days, attendees could opt for more than 200 classes and opportunities to learn, grow, and network. These classes included Service Management/Business classes, Technical classes offered by OEMs and training schools, and at least 20 networking opportunities. Topics included training, warranty claims, hiring, improving internal efficiencies, recognizing stress and how to manage it, how to run your business, knowing your numbers and understanding them for more profitability, measuring KPIs, responding to negative reviews, and more. We also took time to have fun – after all, it was Las Vegas! We're committed to helping you become more knowledgeable, efficient with your time, analytical with your processes – all toward becoming more profitable. At UASA we achieve this goal through ASTI and our training events, as well as the relationships we're committed to help you cultivate. Our goal is to ensure that when you leave ASTI you'll be reconnected with your peers, challenged by new knowledge, and moving forward with fresh targets not only for your business but for yourself. We invite you to visit www.ASTI.us to see photos of all ASTI has to offer. We're also excited to announce that ASTI2025 will be held at Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate in Orlando, Florida, January 8-12, 2025. We hope to see you there! You can register today at www. ASTI.us or send any suggestions on classes you'd like to see, or new vendors you'd like to connect with. Send your ideas to administration@ unitedservicers.com. Not familiar with UASA or ASTI? UASA is a nonprofit trade association established in 1993 by servicers, for servicers. It is North America's largest appliance repair association, created to provide members access to the resources, support, and strategies they need to run a more efficient and profitable business. The mission of UASA is to promote growth and trade development in the appliance service profession by mentoring and supporting businesses through management and technical training, and industry relationships and networking, while strengthening standards for all servicers to be professional, ethical, and profitable. Sarah Brown Executive Director United Appliance Servicers Association S E R V I C E D E P A R T M E N T RO ASTI 2024: STACK THE ODDS IN YOUR FAVOR

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